


Bane of the Doctor - Part 14: The Doctor's Secret Weapon

by RodimusDoctor



Series: Bane of the Doctor [15]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Gen, Multiple Doctors (Doctor Who), Psychological Trauma, Science Fiction, Seventh Transept, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-14
Updated: 2014-08-14
Packaged: 2018-02-13 02:38:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2133981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RodimusDoctor/pseuds/RodimusDoctor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While the 11th Doctor works to disable the time bubble surrounding the Seventh Transept/Delirium Archive, Dirge Manson tries to goad the 10th Doctor into committing an act of murder. River Song arrives to help, but is she too late? The Doctor must confront his enemy face-to-face, but first he must deal with the Scarecrow. What is the Doctor's secret weapon?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bane of the Doctor - Part 14: The Doctor's Secret Weapon

The Doctor lay on the floor of the Silence time capsule, screwdriver in hand, trying not to die. Disconnecting the time drive from the Seventh Transept/Delirium Archive/Dirge Manson’s Supreme Headquarters was a simple matter. Getting past all the deadly traps Dirge had installed to prevent someone from tampering with those connections was another matter entirely.

It took him nearly three minutes. A shudder went through the complex as it emerged from its prison between seconds. The Doctor hoped the time anomalies would fade out as well. That kind of trouble he didn’t need.

The Doctor snapped his sonic screwdriver off, rose to his feet, and came face-to-mask with the Scarecrow. The villain had an ogron blaster in his good hand, and it was set to kill.

“Oh, hello,” the Doctor said without much enthusiasm.

“Take me to Neo-Gotham, Doctor,” the Scarecrow said. “No more excuses, no more side-trips. I will kill you if you refuse me.”

“And if I’m dead...” the Doctor began to ask.

“There’s another you out there,” the Scarecrow pointed out. “He can pilot this thing if you won’t. But what kind of existence will he have if he sees your corpse lying here, proof that he has no future?”

The Doctor considered.

“Very well,” he said. “Shut the door, will you? The time vortex tends to cause a draft.”

“No tricks,” the Scarecrow said, reaching to close the capsule door. It wouldn’t budge. “How do you...?”

“Oh, that panel over there,” the Doctor waved at one of the round glowing circles on the central console. “I’ll set the co-ordinates.”

The Scarecrow tucked the blaster under his right arm and pressed his left hand to the round panel. A painful jolt shot through him, and the weapon fell to the floor. He tried to reach for it but could not; his hand was stuck fast to the panel.

“Doctor!” he roared.

“Yes, I’m afraid that’s not the door control at all,” the Doctor told him. “These capsules require the mental energy of a pilot, but if I were to try and do so the results would be very bad.”

“We had a deal!” the Scarecrow snapped.

“And I’m honouring it,” the Doctor replied, making a few adjustments to the controls. “I’m sending you to Neo Gotham, as agreed. And I’m setting this vessel to self-destruct. When you land you’ll have five seconds to escape. Not to worry, it will implode, perfectly safe if you’re on the outside. I wouldn’t stay on board if I were you...”

“Why?” the Scarecrow demanded.

“Why? Because you’ll be imploded with it!” the Doctor told him.

“That is not what I...”

“You’ve figured out a lot of the technology while you’ve been here,” the Doctor said. “There is no way I’m letting you get your hands on a time machine, even one as crude as this one is. Happy trails, Doctor Crane. Try and stay out of trouble.”

The Doctor left the capsule, activating it with his screwdriver on his way out. The capsule vanished into the spacetime vortex, taking the Scarecrow with it.

One loose end tied up, the Doctor thought. Almost. He’d better put a call through to the Wayne Legacy Foundation as soon as he made it back to...

He stepped into the next chamber and stopped, eyes wide.

What in the universe was he doing?

 

I stand, never taking my eyes off the weakest Doctor. He holds in his hands a weapon that can kill me, after all. I am hoping that he will, of course – turn himself into a murderer, destroying himself in the process – but I want to look him in the eyes as he does it.

My dying wish is to see the moment my plan comes to fruition.

“Doctor!”

I turn my head and see River Song standing a few metres away, near the elevator. Where did she come from? She could ruin everything!

I turn back to the Doctor, who hasn’t moved or so much as twitched. If he is aware of River’s sudden appearance, he isn’t showing it.

“Doctor, you need to stop,” River tells him. “This isn’t who you are.”

“I hate you!” the Doctor snaps, trembling with rage.

“I hate him, too,” River says. “I want him dead more than I can say. My only desire is to kill him. It has consumed me, Doctor...”

“You hurt me!” the Doctor shouts, and now he holds my pistol in one hand, aimed at my heart.

“He hurt me as well,” River tells him. “My family, my friends, the life I still had left. I know what he’s done to you, Doctor, and believe me when I say I wish I could have spared you that. But the man I know you to be would never kill in cold blood.”

“You,” the Doctor takes a step toward me, “made me call you Please Sir.”

“That is how you must address me,” I say, as calmly as I can. “I can still hurt you, Doctor.”

“No he can’t!” River shouts. Why isn’t she attempting to disarm him? Or, for that matter, kill me? Is she really leaving my fate in the Doctor’s hands?

Or, perhaps she can’t. When I left her with the Headless Monks, they may have done significant damage to her light matrix.

“You left me in my own filth,” the Doctor continues. “Left me broken, in agony. You tore my mind apart with my deepest fears.”

“You tore my mind apart, please sir,” I say, and treasure the ripple of hate my comment elicits.

“You are the Doctor,” River says, her tone almost pleading. “You must not do this. It’s what he wants. It’s... what I thought I wanted. But more than that, I want you to remain the Doctor. Please, don’t...”

“You hurt people to get to me,” the Doctor says, still showing no sign that he’s aware of River. I just need to push him a little bit more.

“Please sir, you hurt people to get to me,” I say. “And I did. Micky Smith, Martha Jones... I had to burn out both her eyes before she betrayed you...”

“He’s lying, Doctor!”

Of course I am. I’ve never even met the Doctor’s companions, though one of them was my mother. My studies were extensive; I can name every companion the Doctor has ever travelled with. Even the Papal Mainframe’s archives have their limits, however. I’ll be caught in a lie if I’m not careful... if River hasn’t done so already.

I doubt the Doctor will catch me, though. His mind has given way to his emotions. The way it always does with this incarnation.

“Sarah Jane Smith took longer,” I say, and I’m rewarded with more darkness in the Doctor’s features. “And Rose...”

“Don’t listen!” River cries. “You know he couldn’t have gotten to Rose Tyler. It’s impossible. Even for him.”

“Is it?” I say.

“You’re the bad man,” the Doctor says. “You deserve to die.”

“Then kill me, Doctor,” I say. “Have your justice.”

“Doctor...” River says, so I cut her off.

“Or don’t you have the courage?” I taunt. Over his shoulder I see the 11th Doctor emerge from the hangar. Good, I think. He will see himself become a murderer. Delicious. I look back at the 10th Doctor’s eyes, and see equal parts fear, anger...

...and strength?

“No,” he says, and he lowers the gun. “I never would.” To punctuate the point, he tosses my pistol away.

I gape at him, astonished. He was broken! How in the nine galaxies did he find the courage of his convictions?

“Doctor, you did it!” River says.

“Yes, well done!” adds the 11th Doctor as he walks toward us. “You’ll do all right, I think. Yes, a bright future indeed!”

“I thought we’d lost you,” River admits.

“I was lost,” the Doctor says, “but then he mentioned Rose. And I remembered not only why I fight, but that I am a fighter.”

“It... wasn’t anything I said, then,” River asks.

“Oh, I’m sure that helped, too,” the 11th Doctor says, slapping his other self on the back. “So,” he looks at me, “what shall we do with him, eh?” He continues to smile, but his eyes ensnare me with his very particular brand of venom.

I have failed; my use of his companion’s names backfired. And, while I know the Doctor won’t kill me, I also know he will show me no mercy. I am... afraid. It won’t be pleasant, and will likely be steeped in irony.

Still, I put a lot of conditioning into the Doctor’s head, and reinforced all of his fears. That will affect him for years to come.

And should he ever take a sentient life with his own hand...

Suddenly, the air is alive with a loud humming noise... a noise I’m only too familiar with.

Oh no.

They’re coming.

She’s coming.

The others are distracted, looking around the room for the source of the noise. The Doctors both have their sonic screwdrivers out; the 11th, I believe, also recognizes the sound.

I make my move. I step forward, sliding my foot under an ogron blaster. A flick of my ankle launches the gun into the air; I catch it and shoot River’s hologram. The weapon is still set to stun; I’m counting on the impact doing further damage to the holoprojector within her.

Both Doctors have begun to react by now – the 11th aims his screwdriver at me while the 10th reaches for his own – but they are too late. I shoot the 10th Doctor; he flies backward and collapses to the floor, just the way I did. I aim at the other Doctor but nothing happens; the weapon has been put on standby mode, no doubt thanks to that infernal screwdriver of his. Then, to add insult to injury, the entire weapon dismantles itself.

The humming noise has stopped; four time capsules have materialized in each corner of the room.

They are here for me.

I must make my escape.

My plan is to use my vortex manipulator. It’s almost out of power, but connected to the transmat in my ship. I’ll hit the recall and hope that I have just enough energy to jump back there.

The Doctor presents a problem; with that screwdriver in his hand he could manipulate my manipulator. I must dispose of him first.

The capsules begin to open. I take another stride forward and grab the Doctor, then drag him with me toward the hangar.

“Oh, are we going on a trip?” the Doctor asks.

“Shut up!” I tell him. “You’ve caused me enough trouble.”

“I’ve caused you trouble?” he replies. “You’re a fine one to...”

“I said shut up!” I snatch his screwdriver with my free hand and toss it away. It skitters along the floor and hits the boot of a soldier of the Church as he emerges from one of the time capsules. There are dozens of them. And Madame Kovarian herself.

“Stop where you are, Dirge Manson!” she snaps.

But by that point I am through the hanger doorway. I shut the door and lock it, buying me at least three minutes.

More than I need to escape. And give the Doctor a few good licks before I do it.

“You’re not at all curious, then,” he says as I spin him around and rear back my arm to punch him. I have no idea what he’s talking about, and don’t care.

“No,” I reply, and swing. And am astonished when he deflects my punch with his left forearm.

“My secret weapon,” the Doctor says. “The one I have in my coat pocket. Don’t you remember?” I snap a kick at him, which he avoids by stepping to one side.

“Oh yes,” I say as it comes to me. “You said it would destroy me.” I feint, then swing a left hook. Again he blocks me!

“It will,” the Doctor tells me. “And you deserve it. Care to have a look?” He spins away from my next attack, and at the same time he reaches into his coat and pulls something out.

“Go on,” he says, and he tosses the weapon at me. Tosses it casually – not a blade weapon, then. Not that he’d ever use such a thing. He’d do something clever and unexpected.

“Or perhaps I will kill you with it,” I say. “You’re not stopping me with a last minute bit of cleverness, Doctor. I will escape this place and free my father from the Seventh Transept, and the Papal Mainframe will honour us for your downfall...”

“No, they won’t,” the Doctor says. “Your father is dead, Dirge Manson.”

“What?” I almost laugh. What is he trying now?

“Your father is dead,” he repeats. “Killed, ironically, by his own hand, by the Faceless Monk his body had become. I was there when it happened.”

“You lie!” I shout. Something about his tone, the look in his eyes...

“Frequently,” the Doctor replies. “But not this time. The proof is there in your hands.”

Against my better judgment, I glance down.

In my hands is a ruler-sized metal plate, inscribed with a name.

PRIVATE EMILE “RUNAWAY” MANSON

And I remember the empty, nameless box in the Seventh Transept. The one torn open at the back. And marred with blood. The same blood, I have no doubt, that is spattered on this nametag.

I fall to my knees. I can barely breathe. The truth of the Doctor’s words overwhelms me completely.

“Your father waited twenty years for you to rescue him,” the Doctor tells me. “He died still believing you would come.”

I keep staring at the name plate, even after it has fallen from my fingers.

The Doctor was right. This has destroyed me.

**Author's Note:**

> Continued in:
> 
> Bane of the Doctor - Part 15: The Last Stand of Dirge Manson


End file.
